Page 119 - Life & Land Use on the Bahrain Islands (Curtis E Larsen)

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von TTiuienfe simplified assumptions can be generally fitted to a concentric-ring
model for preindustrial Bahrain and furnish a basic theoretical understanding of
land use on the islands. While Haggett (1966:166) claimed that von TTunen’s isolated
state model was weakened by its empirical content and direct derivation from the
author’s own nineteenth-century estate records, we are trying to gain this very
perspective—an understanding of a pre-nineteenth-century culture with little
contemporary data to use. TTius, by being aware of inherent flaws in the approach
and extending caveats to other researchers, we can apply a modified von TTunen
model to Bahrain. It is encouraging and supportive to see Smith’s (1976) and
Plattner’s (1976) use of the von Thinian model as an explanatory device for
understanding socioeconomic patterns in modern underdeveloped countries. TTiis
allows us to extend a similar set of theoretical considerations into the past with
greater confidence.
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Bahrain can be viewed intuitively in the von Thunen sense with Manama
bordered by a zone of intense agricultural activity, where date and vegetable
gardens are prevalent. While the economic demand for dates decreased in modem
times, dates and vegetables from this zone of gardens continue to provide the
greatest cash crops in the Manama market (Government of Bahrain 1975). The date
palm gardens near Manama also furnished a fuel source in preindustrial times. Tliis
agrees in part with a zone of timber used for similar purposes in the von Thinen
model and located near the urban center. Beyond this zone, there are no direct
comparisons between this concentric-ring model and modern Bahrain. Grain crops,
for example, are no longer raised on Bahrain, although barley was cultivated during
medieval times and probably during the third millennium B.C.
Chisholm (1962), through studies of Sicilian villages, showed that land use
occurred in a series of steps rather than in continuously graded concentric zones.
He noted that grapes and citrus fruits were most characteristic of the inner zones
while other fruits occupied the next successive zone away from the center. His
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conclusions embellish von TTunen’s concepts. Products that are less labor intensive
are located at a greater distance from the market center. Bahrain’s citrus, date,
and vegetable crops easily fit within this perspective. Chisholm also claims that